


Who will save your soul (after all the lies that you told)?

by madlaw



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Comfort/Angst, F/F, My Take on Season 6 of Supergirl, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:29:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28592541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madlaw/pseuds/madlaw
Summary: Picks up immediately after Lena and Kara agree there's one bad guy left in Immortal Kombat.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 15
Kudos: 172





	1. Reconciliation: The restoration of friendly relations

**Author's Note:**

> I finally watched the second half of season 5 and it left me feeling (not surprisingly) like a yo-yo on a string. This is how I made sense of canon-or at least as much as I could find. I may add additional chapters eventually, but since I haven't been doing great with longer works lately, I'd thought I'd end this on a hopeful note. It's really the beginning of what I think would need to be an ongoing conversation as Lena and Kara work on repairing their relationship.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Lena decide to try to repair their relationship. They don't know how or when they'll find the time, but for now that's enough to give them hope for the future.

“What now?” Lena asks, chin quivering, eyes shining with tears of relief she’s trying desperately not to shed.

“Well, there’s still one bad guy left to catch,” Kara replies airily with the beginnings of an almost giddy grin.

Lena’s happy for the reprieve from their weighted conversation and quickly gathers her composure with a smile as she offers her hand. “Let’s go take my brother down,” she agrees confidently.

* * *

They decide to make their way to the Tower discreetly to regroup with the others. Afterall, there’s no doubt Lex is still out there, and they need to figure out his end game. Lena knows her brother and she’s certain he had a contingency already mapped out in case Leviathan failed in murdering the participants of the Unity Festival.

As Kara approaches the Tower with Lena, she’s momentarily awash with a sense of the surreal. Just a day ago she would’ve never considered bringing the wayward CEO to the Tower, yet it feels right to have Lena by her side but disorienting all the same—as if they hadn’t spent almost a year working at cross-purposes, hurting each other. She knows they need to talk, and she needs to process the conflicting feelings that have been wracking her heart and mind since Lena showed up at her door, but as always, there are more pressing issues right now.

They’ve barely entered the building when Alex’s ringtone blares from Kara’s phone.

“Alex?” She answers anxiously. “Are you alright?”

“Yes, where are you?” Alex asks sharply.

“I’m at the Tower with Lena,” she replies as she glances at the tech genius, who’s studying the space curiously.

“Good. Stay there. We’re on our way,” Alex orders sharply.

“Wait! Alex,” Kara blurts. “Is everyone else okay?”

“Yes, but we need to find Brainy. We’ll explain when we get there,” Alex answers quickly before hanging up.

Lena arches her eyebrow in question as Kara puts down her phone.

“They’ll be here soon,” Kara says, slowly, not really focusing on Lena.

“Kara,” Lena begins softly, “are you okay?”

Kara sighs, ready to brush off the question, but then her eyes lock on the woman who has been consuming most of her waking thoughts for the past year.

“No,” she answers abruptly. 

“I know there’s still a lot we need to talk about,” Lena says carefully, still uncertain of the boundaries of this fragile truce they seem to have called.

“I tried to talk to you for months,” Kara says after a long moment. She’s been trying to keep her thoughts and feelings at bay all day, but suddenly they’re pouring from her mouth in a torrent of anguished emotion.

“A huge part of me is so very relieved because I’ve missed you so much,” Kara admits, her voice breaking, “but I also feel numb and emotionally exhausted and I don’t know if I have the strength to let you back into my life, but being without you hurts so much,” she gasps as she loses the battle, tears streaming down her cheeks, “and I know—I KNOW—you were hurting too, but Lena you set out to try and destroy me! You were cruel and calculating…and what does it say about me,” she scoffs derisively, wetly through her sobs, “that all it took for me to let you back in was you knocking on my door!”

“Kara—” Lena stutters, but for once, words fail her. What can she possibly say in the face of Kara’s undeniable devastation?

“You know what hurt the most,” Kara asks after she takes a minute to catch her breath and her tears finally start to abate. “Not poisoning me with kryptonite, or manipulating me into breaking the law, or stealing from me. What hurt the most was you sold CatCo to Andrea, knowing she intended to turn it into just another pandering click-bait tabloid. You _knew_ how much CatCo means to me, how much being a journalist defines me as Kara Danvers, and you burned it to the ground and laughed while I choked on the ashes! I won a Pulitzer and I got to enjoy it for a minute before it was tainted, and I had to swallow being told how my writing was pedantic and dull and how I needed to learn to write with crayons! You let her ambush me Lena!”

Lena swallows hard, “Kara, I—”

But Kara cuts her off again. “Don’t you dare deny it! Andrea told James during the two seconds he fought her on the direction she was trying to take CatCo,” she reveals and even through the hero’s anger, her disgust with James’ almost eager surrender of Cat’s life work rings clear. “I fought with him about it because I refused to believe it. I knew my best friend would never knowingly conspire to destroy something I held so dear!” she yells emphatically, mocking her past self.

“But she wasn’t lying, was she Lena?” she demands unflinchingly.

“No,” Lena almost whispers. “It was my idea. I pitched CatCo as the perfect advertising platform for Obsidian,” Lena confesses.

Even though she already knew it, hearing Lena confirm it visibly deflates the normally indefatigable hero and she slumps onto the couch behind her. She rubs her eyes like she’s trying to erase the past years’ worth of memories. Or maybe trying to erase Lena—not that the CEO would blame her. 

Lena wipes her own silent tears as she takes a seat next to her friend. Because despite everything she’s said over the past year—out loud and repeatedly to herself—she knows Kara would never abandon her. Regardless of the hero’s words and even when she felt Kara distrusted her, Lena knows to the very depths of her soul, if she reached out—Kara would always be there for her.

“I’m not going to defend myself, Kara. You’re right. I did despicable things, maybe even unforgiveable things. I cried for weeks after I believed I killed my brother. I went back and dissected every moment of our friendship, trying to figure out what was real. I tormented myself wondering if you’d ever cared about me at all. Because Kara Danvers always believed in me, supported me, made me feel worthy—but Supergirl—Supergirl questioned my motives, asked my boyfriend to betray me, and doubted me at every turn. So, if my best friend and Supergirl are one and the same—what did that make me? Who did that make me?” Lena murmurs lost in her memories of one of the worst times of her life.

“When we met,” Kara breaks the silence, “and you told Clark and I about being adopted and how you were simply trying to make a name for yourself outside your family, it resonated with me. I felt an immediate connection with you. I believed you and _in you_ and from that moment on, no one could convince me you were anything like your family,” Kara says with a sigh, remembering all the times she came to the youngest Luthor’s defense, all the fights with James primarily, but also the doubt and suspicion from Alex and Kal.

“I could see all the good you would bring the world, if everyone just gave you a chance. I was determined to do everything in my power to make sure you got your chance,” Kara says wistfully. If she’d known that she’d look to those times fighting Cadmus, the Daxamites, and even Edge as simpler ones—she’d probably have jumped in her pod and willingly exiled herself to the phantom zone.

“But maybe I created an idealized image of you in my mind. Because even after I realized you’d synthesized kryptonite, and stolen the Harun-El, and aided and abetted Lex, I still never stopped believing in you. I tried to understand your perspective—always. I mean, Rao Lena! I kept my secret identity from you, but you kept so much from me too!”

“The difference, Kara, is that I thought I was protecting my incredibly sweet and endearingly naive best friend from the darkness surrounding everything Luthor—including myself. You knew exactly who I was from the moment we met and what it meant.” Kara jerks her head up at Lena’ words, studying her friend closely. But Lena’s not challenging her or trying to justify herself—she’s staring at her own hands like the responsibility for the world lies at her fingertips.

“You knew what my family was capable of and the nature of the danger they represented to me and the world. Why would I ever share that darkness with someone who’d come to mean the world to me?” Lena asks sincerely. “With someone who carried such light within her?”

“I was trying to protect you too,” Kara offers with a sad smile.

“I think I’m beginning to internalize that,” Lena concedes. “I understand why you kept your secret from me at first, Kara. Of course, I do. I do know it’s dangerous—for you, your friends, your family, for anyone who knows your identity. But you had to know, over time, that I could take care of myself too and I was always in danger from my family anyway. Why, especially after you knew for certain Lillian knew your identity, did you insist on being my friend? I mean, I expected Supergirl would save me when my life was in danger if she could, but why didn’t Kara Danvers keep her distance?” Lena asks again intently.

“I couldn’t,” Kara shrugs with a deep sigh. “Something about you drew me in…I mean, I tried—not very hard or for very long, but I tried to keep a professional distance, but then those emails were leaked to CatCo and I knew you needed me,” Kara says and from anyone else it’d sound condescending or patronizing, but somehow Kara makes it sound like a it’s an indisputable law of nature, like gravity. “And I needed you,” she adds just as matter-of-factly.

“Then why didn’t you _tell_ me Kara?” Lena pleads, like all the answers Kara’s given thus far have fallen short, like she’s desperate to _believe_ Kara didn’t mean to hurt her.

“I’ve only ever chosen to tell two people my identity,” Kara finally answers, and it sounds to Lena like she’s thinking out loud, maybe analyzing her choices for the first time. "Well, three if you count Lucy, but it wasn't really a choice since I needed her help to save Alex and J'onn," she rambles before catching herself and taking a breath.

“I never planned on being Supergirl. Since I landed on earth I was conditioned to hide, to blend-in, to be less than what I am. There were good reasons for it, and I know Kal and Eliza and Jeremiah were trying to protect me. Cadmus was sanctioned by the government and they would’ve done anything to get a Kryptonian into their lab to dissect and study and _weaponize_ ,” Kara hisses with revulsion.

“But Alex was on the plane I saved that night and it changed _everything_. But I knew I didn’t want to be a hero the way Superman did it,” and the way Kara says it reminds Lena of other times Supergirl spoke about her cousin, like he’s a human playing at being Kryptonian. “I really do believe we are stronger together and I wanted to build something bigger than myself, so I told Winn,” Kara reveals like it should make perfect sense and bizarrely, it does—to Lena anyway. 

Kara needed someone to share in her joy and excitement and although she hasn’t said it directly, Lena knows Alex must’ve tried everything in her power to dissuade Kara. “Then you told James,” Lena guesses.

“What? No,” Kara denies emphatically. “Kal told James before he left Metropolis. They tried to sugarcoat it and they won’t admit it, but basically Kal sent James here to keep an eye on me.”

Lena rolls her eyes disdainfully and it elicits a genuine laugh from Kara. “Exactly. I wasn’t happy about it, but it was a done deal. No, Nia was the only other person I _chose_ to tell. She was going through so much, and I knew I could help, and I already regretted not telling you so badly, I didn’t want to let another friend down by selfishly protecting my secret,” Kara says guiltily. 

“You know, for a long time, I was just waiting for you to call me out on it. After I realized I wasn’t willing to keep you at a distance, I figured it was inevitable, especially after you started helping the DEO. Then for a time, I thought you knew, but you needed to keep us separate for your own reasons. It was a while before I really believed you never made the connection.”

“What would you have done?” The CEO asks curiously.

“I would have admitted it,” Kara says immediately. Lena looks at her skeptically with a raised eyebrow.

“It was never about keeping you in the dark, Lena. It was about protecting you,” Kara insists.

“I did ask you,” Lena reminds her.

“No—you asked Supergirl her name,” Kara disagrees, “you didn’t ask your best friend Kara Danvers if she was Supergirl.”

“That’s a fine hair you’re splitting there Ms. Danvers. I doubt you’d let an interviewee get away with such a blatant play on semantics,” Lena says lightly.

Kara sighs again. “I know. I was a coward. I’m not denying it. But it wasn’t like there was a scorecard telling me the exact right time to tell you! At first it was about protecting you and by the time I realized it wasn’t necessary, if it ever was,” she adds under her breath, “it was too late and then it became about protecting myself because I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you. But I will deny until my last day of existence that it was about trust.”

“But Kara don’t you see? By not telling me you stole so much from me—my agency for starters. I deserved to decide for myself whether I wanted to be Supergirl’s _friend_. I would always have wanted to work with you for the greater good, but shouldn’t I have gotten to decide whether I wanted to be your friend too? It was a conscious choice to keep Supergirl at a distance and my reasoning was validated by everything Lex has put us through! I was blindsided several times over the last two years because he knew how much Supergirl meant to me, even if I didn’t!

You also robbed me of the real and honest friendship I could’ve depended on when I felt so alone. There were so many times I wanted to talk to you about everything…when I was trying to thwart Lillian’s plan with Medusa, I didn’t know if I could really trust Supergirl and then you came to me with that ridiculous pitch and I thought she was turning you against me. And after Jack died, I felt so guilty…he’d been such an important part of my life. I think it would’ve helped to know I’d not only saved Supergirl, but my best friend too. Then Reign came and god Kara! I needed you—I needed my best friend so badly. But how could I drag Kara into the kind of danger I was confronting? Reign could’ve killed you and I would’ve lost my best friend, and no one would’ve ever told me the truth!

God—and James!—you have no idea,” Lena says and there’s pain in the way she says his name, but also a loathing that shocks Kara and she can’t help but interject for the first time since Lena started speaking. “What do you mean? What about James?” she asks determinedly—because if he hurt Lena in more ways than the obvious Kara’s going to find him and kick his ass.

“Kara, if I’d known you were Supergirl I would’ve never gotten involved with James.”

“Why? Why would it have changed anything between you?” Kara asks confusedly.

“Because, Kara, I would’ve never accepted James speaking about you the way he spoke about Supergirl. I knew a part of him was envious of the Supers—he always wanted to be the hero. He wanted the adoration and the accolades, and he was resentful that when he became Guardian, he was labeled a vigilante instead. He was always quick with the backhanded compliments, but I grew up with the masters and it was obvious to me that his hero worship had turned bitter. In that way he reminded me of Lex. Why do you think it was so easy for Lockwood to lure him in?”

Kara’s shocked and although she really wants to ask Lena exactly what she means, she’s not sure she can deal with the heartbreak of another person she cares about not being who she thought they were.

“Whether consciously or not Kara, James started driving a wedge between us from the moment I bought CatCo. It was subtle and although at times I saw it for what it was, I thought he cared about me and was being protective. I thought since he was close with the Supers, he’d heard you talk derogatively about me and he didn’t want me to get hurt. 

It was only after I learned you were Supergirl that it became clear to me. He couldn’t get you to stop trusting me, to stop believing in me, and he knew better than to even try to come between me and Kara—I made that clear before it even came up—” and Lena winces at the memory of that kiss and their conversation the next day and the one she’d thought she’d had with Kara, which in retrospect must’ve been J’onn since Supergirl was in a Reign induced coma at the time, “so he took every opportunity to play my insecurities and turn me against Supergirl instead. It wasn’t until he told me about Supergirl sending him to check my vault that I really let him into my life. I’m not putting it all on him. We certainly made it easy, but he turned that to his advantage masterfully. Him as penitent lover, my champion against the duplicitous Super,” she scoffs.

A blinding rage suffuses Kara and she just wants to scream until her rage blots out everything. But staying in control of her powers, of her anger, is second nature—so instead she breathes in deeply, once, twice, and a third time before exhaling slowly. Something must show on her face though because Lena pauses. 

“What? Are you surprised he’s not the noble knight you thought him to be?” she asks more sharply than she intends, because it grates, of course it does, that Kara might not believe her. Again.

“Oh, I wish I could say it surprised me.” Kara finally says with a shake of her head. “I just thought he’d had a genuine change of heart about you. No one in my life distrusted you more than James. He even told me I should just leave you to die—that you were a criminal just like all the Luthors. More than once. Said he’d prove it. It galled him that I had so much faith in a Luthor and none in Guardian. But I genuinely believed he’d gotten to know you and fallen in love with you—why wouldn’t he? Otherwise, I would never have—” but Kara catches herself before she can say something she’s not sure she can explain even to herself.

For a second she thinks Lena will press her, but after a moment she continues their previous conversation as if they’d never mentioned James.

“After Lex told me, well, it was more dramatic reveal, but when I thought about the last four years, there was always another memory waiting to mock me. You were everywhere—restaurants, my lab, CatCo, L-Corp, my friends—there was nowhere I could go in National City that didn’t trigger a memory of you, of us. I’d built my life here around you! It made me so angry! If you’d told me years ago, I would’ve explained I came to National City in the hopes that we, Supergirl and I, could do things differently than my brother and your cousin. I heard your message of hope after Myriad and you inspired me. Everything would’ve been different,” Lena says longingly. 

“We can’t change the past, Lena,” Kara says, and eventually she’ll tell Lena about Mxy, but now’s not the time.

“So, what will we do?” Lena asks softly. “After we defeat Lex, what will become of us?” She asks and it’s such a loaded question. 

“I don’t know,” Kara admits. It’s painful but it’s honest and it’s the one thing Kara promised herself if she ever found herself talking to Lena again. No more lies to Lena. Ever. About anything. Not even to spare either of them pain.

“I trusted you then—when I kept my secret to protect first you—and then myself. But I don’t know if I can ever trust you that way again. So blindly, so totally—and I don’t know if I can live with the pain it would cause to have you in my life but be constantly reminded of what we lost. Maybe too much has happened for us to be able to—”

The sound of the door opening and Alex calling her name followed by her appearance with Nia, M’Gann, and J’onn interrupts them and brings an abrupt end to their conversation. They both wipe their eyes quickly and Nia’s so obviously distraught, Kara rushes to her side.

“What happened?!” the hero asks stridently, her own personal angst immediately discarded as she takes in the disheveled group.

J’onn details their battle with the Leviathan members and Kara and Lena bring the group up to speed with what happened at the Obsidian offices.

“So, we don’t know if we’ve defeated Leviathan permanently or where they went, or what Lex is planning or where he is, and we need to find Brainy, who may be hurt,” Kara summarizes.

“In my vision,” Nia adds, “he was holding a canister, like the one the other Brainiac used to bottle his universe, and then he collapsed. But I don’t know what that means or even if it’s literal or a metaphor for something,” Nia agonizes.

“What if he bottled Rama Khan and the others we were fighting,” Alex queries. “It would explain why they disappeared instead of killing us.”

“If he did, and Lex knows, there’s no way he’s not going after the bottle,” Lena theorizes. 

“Guys,” Nia interrupts anxiously. “I think Brainy’s dying—we need to find him—fast.”

“Right,” Alex agrees. “There’s no point wasting time. Once we find Brainy, he can explain,” she says with a covert glance at Kara. No one says it, but they’re all thinking it. Hopefully, they’ll find him in time.

“If he did shrink Leviathan, he’d have to be at their base of operations, somewhere they’re linked to somehow,” Kara explains.

“On Earth-38 Brainy found them using a combination of an ancient symbol linked to Leviathan and Veridian radiation,” Alex remembers.

“I could write an algorithm to search for the same parameters along with Brainy’s unique digital signature,” Lena offers as she walks over to the central computer. Alex doesn’t hesitate to give her access and Lena immediately gets to work.

“I should’ve never ignored my dreams,” Nia laments. “If I tried harder to understand what they meant, what Brainy was going through—”

“Stop—” Kara tells her not unkindly. “Brainy pushed you away and left you no option but to respect his choice. We can’t be responsible for someone else’s bad decisions,” she says with a glance at Lena—not because she intends it as a dig, but because she hopes the CEO doesn’t misinterpret.

“But I should’ve tried harder to understand my dreams, instead I just tried to keep him out of my head.”

“Nia—” Kara says gently as she gathers the young woman’s hands in hers trying to soothe her, “you did the best you could. You weren’t trying to hurt Brainy—you were trying to protect yourself from the pain of a break-up. One he wouldn’t explain and left you with no alternatives. We’ll find him and hopefully he’ll let us help him now.”

“We should clean up and rest,” J’onn suggests. “We don’t know what we’ll be facing when we find Brainy or when Lex might make his move.”

Everyone agrees and after some discussion head out. Kara decides to stay with Lena, who she knows won’t rest until the algorithm’s complete and running. She orders them takeout and lets Lena work while she checks her email.

There’s one waiting from Cat and Kara smiles reflexively. The runaway media mogul had reached out when Kara won the Pulitzer, ostensibly to take the credit for shaping Kara, but Kara had been reading between Cat’s lines for years and she knew her former mentor and friend was proud of her, and they’d been keeping in touch ever since. Not often, and not nearly as much as Kara would like, but Cat had been hinting she was working on a new project that might interest Kara and all would be revealed in “due time,” which of course meant whenever Cat felt like it.

After a few days on Earth-Prime, Kara had sent J’onn to restore Cat’s memories after ensuring this world’s reality hadn’t eliminated Adam or Carter. J’onn had come back seeming traumatized, but only saying the mission was accomplished. Soon after they’d resumed their correspondence and Kara’d been unsuccessfully trying to wheedle the details of her new project out of Cat.

She looks up when she feels the cushion next to her dip as Lena sits down.

“It’s running and it shouldn’t take too long, assuming there’s some link here in National City,” she says with a tired sigh.

“You should try to get some rest then,” Kara says softly. It’s the first time Lena’s seen that look of concern directed at her in over a year and she’d forgotten how easily Kara makes her feel warm and cared for and she thinks she’ll do anything it takes to keep Kara in her life.

“We were interrupted before,” Lena starts, but Kara shakes her head.

“I know, but I don’t think we’ll find any answers tonight. We’re both exhausted and things between us won’t be fixed in one conversation…but—” Kara says as she makes a conscious effort to lower her guard with Lena for the first time in forever, “I know I want to try to repair our relationship. You’ve always been different Lena—not because you’re a Luthor, but because you’re you,” Kara struggles to explain.

“Sometimes I thought it would be so much easier if I could just let you go, if I could just accept you’d turned a corner I couldn’t follow you around—but I know a part of me will always long for you and if you’re willing to try—”

“I am, Kara,” Lena says immediately.

“But” Kara warns, “we can’t keep punishing each other. I don’t want us to cause each other anymore pain. We need to work at forgiving each other and ourselves and rebuild our relationship.”

“I don’t want what we had before,” Lena says without thinking and sees the hurt look flash across Kara’s face. She quickly clarifies. “I want to rebuild our relationship on trust and honesty, Kara. I think both us put the other on a pedestal and when we fell it’s no wonder we both felt shattered.”

“I’d like that,” Kara says and her smile, although not the blinding one Lena longs for, is hopeful—and that’s more than she’d ever thought to see directed at her again.


	2. Self-Confidence: A feeling of trust in one's abilities, qualities, and judgment.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search for Brainy, Kara's faith, and Lena's plan.

An alert from Lena’s program interrupts them before anything else can be said.

They rush over to the terminal and see a flashing set of coordinates. Lena maps them and identifies a building in a relatively abandoned section of the city. “I’ll initiate a more thorough scan of the area,” Lena says as she glances over at Kara, “while you contact the others. I want to be as sure as possible we’re not just walking into a trap.”

Kara steps away to call Alex while Lena monitors the scan. She’s studying the results with a frown when Kara rejoins her at the terminal.

“Alex is calling the others. They should be here in twenty minutes. What did you find?”

“Unusual radiation. Your enhanced suit will protect you, but the others may not be safe, depending on what we find once we get there,” Lena elaborates.

“Then I’m going ahead. Don’t let them leave until you hear from me,” Kara replies, already heading for the door.

“No way, I’m coming with you,” Lena informs her calmly.

Kara turns back to argue but stops when she sees Lena push back her sleeve to reveal a metallic cuff on her wrist. She depresses a barely discernible button and its surface glimmers for a second, then spreads out, quickly sheathing her from the neck down before consolidating and activating the HUD display as her helmet materializes and seals shut seamlessly. The suit has the L-Corp emblem from Earth-38 on the upper left chest plate. “It’s a sleeker version of the lexosuit, including the transmatter portal feature,” she explains. “I tweaked it while I was working on your anti-kryptonite suit.”

Did Lena think she’d need it to protect herself from Lex or from Supergirl? Kara’s not sure she wants to know the answer.

She reconsiders the words on the tip of her tongue. Lena may not be Alex, but she’s no damsel in distress either. She’s seen her fight several times and with the suit Kara doesn’t doubt she’ll be able to hold her own. Over the last few months, she’s given a lot of thought to how she and Lena could repair their relationship and she knows it will take more than heartfelt words to prove to Lena she trusts her and to restore Lena’s trust in her in turn.

She looks into her friend’s eyes for a moment, then nods decisively with a minute smile. “Let’s go. I’ll contact Alex in route and tell them to wait at the Tower until they hear from us.” She takes a small bit of satisfaction from the look of surprise that flashes in Lena’s eyes as she activates her anti-kryptonite suit.

* * *

The area is deserted but the duo hovers briefly while Kara uses her enhanced vision to search the building and Lena runs a scan trying to find the source of the radiation.

“The building is empty,” Kara reports after a minute. “There’s an elevator on the first floor that leads underground, but I can’t see past the flooring—it’s probably lead lined.”

“Well, that’s certainly an indication we’re in the right place,” Lena deadpans. “The radiation levels are low, but I can’t get a fix on the source. The thermal scan isn’t showing any life forms,” she announces reluctantly as they land on the sidewalk.

There’s a nondescript door with a sophisticated lock, but before Lena can examine it Kara gives it a firm shove, tearing it off its hinges as it collapses inward. Lena rolls her eyes but doesn’t comment as she follows the Super inside.

They make their way down a dimly lit hallway to the elevator. “Don’t,” Lena says sharply before Kara can use any of her powers on the state-of-the-art access pad. “If you fry it, freeze it, or force it, we may not be able to use it to get to the lower level. So, unless there’s some reason you’re dying to play ‘super-shovel’ let me analyze it first,” she huffs as she activates her HUD display and initiates a scan.

Kara looks chagrined but doesn’t say anything as she steps aside to let Lena access the panel.

A minute later Lena grins smugly as she enters the decrypted code, and they step into the elevator. The doors immediately slide shut behind them as it begins its descent automatically. A short ride later they step out into a subtly lit, lavishly furnished room with a huge round table and fully stocked bar.

Directly ahead of them on the wall is an ancient symbol with a glowing pad underneath. Lena approaches it as Kara looks around. “That’s not actually a wall,” Kara says as she gestures to the space next to where Lena stands. 

She scrunches her eyebrows and looks puzzled. “What is it then?” she asks impatiently.

“It looks like the command deck of a ship,” Kara replies slowly, eyes squinting, obviously using her x-ray vision.

Lena immediately checks their coordinates. “That elevator must function as a portal of some kind,” she says slowly, “we’re not on earth anymore and I can’t get a lock on our position.”

“Lena,” Kara breathes urgently, “I can see Brainy!”

She nears the wall and waves her hand. The hologram wall disappears revealing a transparent barrier. Lena spots the Coluan on the floor, seemingly unconscious and immediately begins hacking the panel on the door, her hand racing over her gauntlet. After a minute of frustrated typing, she shakes her head and looks up at Kara standing tensely by the barrier. “Break it!”

Kara punches through the obstruction without hesitation and the material shatters as an alarm begins to sound and Lena’s HUD display flashes a warning of elevated radiation levels.

“Grab him and let’s get out of here,” she exclaims urgently. “I can’t identify the electromagnetic spectrum of the radiation and I have no idea how long our suits will shield us from exposure.” 

She rushes back to the elevator while Kara snatches Brainy from the floor as gently as possible while moving at super-speed. They’re back outside and in the air less than a minute later, racing towards the Tower. They’re still close enough to feel the shock-waves when the building explodes behind them. 

Kara tightens her grip on Brainy as the blast wave jars her off course and she glances back to check on Lena. She’s relieved to find her friend right behind her, the lexosuit weathering the turbulence without a hitch.

* * *

They burst into the Tower, shocking Nia and M’Gann to their feet as Alex rushes out from the medical suite, while J’onn watches them stoically. One look at Brainy cradled in Kara’s arms and Alex snaps into doctor mode.

“What happened?” she asks immediately as she turns back to hold the door for Kara as she rushes Brainy to the medical bed in the middle of the room, the others right behind them. 

“We think he was exposed to potentially lethal levels of radiation, but I can’t identify the type,” Lena answers as she helps Alex hook Brainy up to a vital sign monitor. He’s running a fever, his blood pressure dangerously low, and there’re signs he’d been frothing at the mouth at some point, a greenish liquid staining his lips and chin.

“Coluans can self-repair,” Alex blurts out and its obvious she’s thinking out loud, “but only if they’re conscious,” she laments as tears stream down Nia’s face while she stares at Brainy’s limp form.

“Or” Kara suddenly remembers, “we can use an omegahedron to reconstitute him. It’s how Non reconstituted Indigo.”

“But first he’d have to be in digital form,” Alex points out.

“Maybe we can reboot him,” Kara offers desperately.

Lena ignores the others as she sifts through all the conversations she’d had with Brainy on Earth-38. She’d always been fascinated by her techno-organic friend’s biology and they’d had several conversations about his race’s genetic code.

“The last time he rebooted it was not pretty,” Nia reminds them.

After running through all the possible scenarios in her mind, Lena strides over to the defibrillator hanging on the wall and yanks it from its case.

“What are you doing?” Alex asks, alarmed.

“We just need him to regain consciousness, even just for a few seconds so he can initiate his self-repair function,” Lena replies confidently.

“Hang on Lena,” Alex says as she chances a quick look at her sister while she moves to cut off the determined scientist’s approach.

“If it were that easy, he would’ve done it himself before he lost consciousness,” Alex reasons.

“He couldn’t,” Lena retorts. “He was under constant bombardment from the radiation and probably weakened. Look, there’s no time to explain,” Lena says exasperatedly, as she watches Brainy’s weakening vital signs on the monitor. “Move, Alex,” Lena orders stridently.

“Kara,” Alex growls, obviously asking for her sister’s help in restraining Lena, while Nia and M’Gann standby tensely. Nia can’t tear her teary eyes away from Brainy and M’Gann studies Lena silently but doesn’t move.

Kara locks eyes with her sister as she steps over and shifts her away from Brainy’s bedside, giving Lena room to set up the defibrillator.

“Clear,” Lena shouts a second later as she applies the paddles to Brainy’s chest and Alex tries to break Kara’s grip, but Brainy gasps as his upper body surges upright and his eyes shoot open, and instantly Kara’s there holding him steady before he dissolves into digital code, scattering into miniscule particles before they lose track of the bits.

They’re all collectively holding their breath as J’onn steps into the suite, but before anyone can exhale, Brainy materializes on his knees, gasping, and Nia darts to his side, her arm cradling his shoulders as he catches his breath, his eyes tightly shut, and his fists clenched on his thighs.

The tension noticeably drains from the room as Lena sets the defibrillator paddles on the bed and sighs, closing her eyes, her shoulders slumping in relief. She opens them a moment later to find Kara giving her a warm, if tight, smile while Alex bends down to help Brainy to his feet.

“Why don’t we give them some space,” J’onn suggests as he holds the door open.

Nia doesn’t acknowledge him as she holds Brainy’s hand tightly while Alex begins her examination. “I’m fully restored to optimal levels,” Brainy assures them stiffly. Since he’d removed his personality inhibitors, he’d already been much less emotional than the Brainy they’d all come to know, but there’s no evidence yet of the purely practical, immoral, and ruthless being he’d become after his reboot when they’d been tracking the missing aliens on Earth-38.

“So, what happened?” J’onn asks when Lena and Kara join him and M’Gann in the main room of the Tower, which they’d taken to referring to as the living room.

“We found Leviathan’s base,” Kara starts to explain, but cuts herself off as she hears the door to the medical suite open. She turns and watches Alex approach, trailed by Nia and Brainy, looking no worse for wear.

“Thank you,” Brainy says the minute he reaches Lena and Kara. Lena gives him a small, albeit genuine smile, and then glances at Kara. Of all the super-friends other than Kara, she’d always related the most to Brainy, but she’s never been comfortable accepting gratitude—especially not now when she realizes she spent the last year making the worst mistakes of her life.

Kara easily distracts from her awkwardness by pulling Brainy into a brief hug. “We’re just glad you’re okay,” she comforts in that easygoing way that seems to come naturally to the affectionate blond.

“But now we need you to tell us everything,” Kara insists firmly, the very embodiment of friend _and_ superhero, and it’s the first time Lena’s been able to see both without seeing red too. 

As Brainy details Lex’s machinations over the last few weeks, Lena only partly listens. The world ended and she’d still fallen into the same trap—letting Lex manipulate her. Worse—knowingly enabling her own corruption. All because she couldn’t find it in herself to forgive Kara—and for what? Her pride. 

Deep down she’d been embarrassed that she’d been so captivated by her friend she’d ignored the ridiculous excuses and the inconsistencies, too afraid to push because it might mean she’d lose not just Kara, but the life she’d undeniably, if unwittingly, built around her. Her vulnerability humiliated her. It enraged her—that she’d been had by a ponytail and glasses and a bumbling demeanor. 

But Kara was right all along. Intent matters. It didn’t make it hurt any less, but there is a difference between being distrustful, misguided, and even selfish, and being a homicidal megalomaniac.

The group is discussing options when Lena interrupts. “Lex wants to kill Supergirl, true—but first he wants to see her disgraced and humiliated. But even that’s not what he wants most,” Lena says with a gleam in her eye.

“Really?” Alex scoffs, “because from where I’m sitting, he seems pretty fixated.” She adds as she glances at Kara, waiting for her to comment. But Kara just looks at Lena thoughtfully.

“So, what does he want?” Nia finally asks. 

“Immortality,” Lena immediately responds. “Everything else is secondary. At his core, Lex is a pathological egoist. He wants ultimate power and control. We need to turn that need against him—it’s not enough to thwart his next plan. That will just trap us in an eternal game of one-upmanship.”

“How?” Brainy asks quietly, his tired eyes verging on despair. “I’m a 12th level intellect and even fully calibrated with the Big Brain, he managed to stay a step ahead of me at every turn.”

“I disagree,” Lena argues earnestly. “We’re all still alive and we managed to defeat Leviathan twice, even when we’ve been working at cross-purposes.” 

Alex furrows her eyebrows, and it seems like she’s going to call Lena out—after all it’s the youngest Luthor’s defection that made much of what Lex has accomplished possible, but Kara stares pointedly at her sister and clears her throat. 

“Lena’s right,” Kara finally says. “We need to work together, and we need to be proactive instead of reactive. We need a plan that forces Lex to play _our_ game for a change.”

“So, what do we know that will allow us to turn the tables on him?” J’onn asks before Alex voices the thoughts her mind is loudly projecting—still fixated on placing blame.

“Leviathan was counting on Lex to help them eliminate Supergirl and cull the herd that is humanity,” Brainy articulates. “But he failed, and he killed one of their key operatives in his efforts to portray himself as humanity’s champion.”

“How does that help us?” Nia wonders, “if they’re now bottled and Lex has them?”

“I was only able to bottle the gods you were fighting,” Brainy informs them, “Rama Khan, Sela and Tezumak—but there’s another. Gemma Cooper, Gamemnae, the goddess of technology.”

“Wait, I know that name. She’s an Obsidian board member,” Lena adds.

“Yes,” Brainy agrees, “but she’s also Jarhanpurian and the leader of Leviathan, although she answers to another, more powerful deity, known as the Anointed One or simply the Elder. The other Jarhanpurians fear her.”

“Which means by now Gamemnae has to be running scared,” J’onn points out. “If we can find a way to turn them against one another, it will serve to keep Lex distracted while we take him down.”

“That will be harder now than it was on Earth-38,” Kara says with a sigh. “Here he’s a hero and a humanitarian not a convicted xenophobic mass murderer. It’s not just a question of finding him and stopping whatever he’s planning, we need proof of his crimes, something that reveals the monster within.”

“Finding him won’t be the challenge,” Lena points out. “He’s not going to hide. Why would he? No one suspects his involvement in anything that’s happened. No one will believe he’s guilty of anything more nefarious than self-aggrandizing monologuing. But by now he’s secured the bottle and moved on to the next phase of his scheme. We need to throw him off his game and soon. The worst thing we could do is give him time.”

“What are you suggesting?” Alex asks suspiciously.

“We restore Lillian’s memories,” Lena replies matter-of-factly.

“Are you insane?!” Alex immediately shouts as she jumps up and starts pacing. 

Nia startles as she looks worriedly from Alex to Kara and feels like the kid in the room when the parents are arguing. Brainy reaches out and takes her hand tentatively, knowing there’s a good chance Nia will pull away, but she gives him a small smile as she intertwines their fingers.

“The last thing we need on our hands is Cadmus 2.0,” Alex says as she flings her arms in the air in frustration, wondering why no one else seems to be as outraged by Lena’s suggestion. 

Lena rolls her eyes. “It’s a risk, but thinking my mother isn’t already on Lex’s bandwagon is not just naive, it’s ignorant,” Lena says plainly. “But” she emphasizes, “this is not Earth-38. On this earth, humans and aliens have a history of working together for the good of the planet and everyone on it. The anti-alien sentiment is negligible.”

“The chances of Lillian successfully forming an anti-alien terrorist organization on this earth are less than .010%,” Brainy interjects. Lena glances at him gratefully before turning her attention back to Alex.

“How will restoring Lillian’s memories help us stop Lex?” Kara asks curiously, a concerned look on her face, but her voice devoid of judgment.

“She’s already incensed he made a deal with the Monitor to ensure my survival, memories intact, but not her,” Lena explains. “She thinks he filled her in on all the pertinent events of her previous life, but I know my brother. There’s no way he told her he tried to kill her. I also know my mother. She’s too perceptive to not have already noticed Lex’s obsession with Kara. He’s been more concerned with keeping Kara and I apart than with his supposed plans to rule the world. When she realizes he’s already on the same track that led to his downfall before, she’ll betray him to take the power for herself.”

“That may be true, but I think you’re also forgetting,” J’onn interrupts calmly, “that this Lillian isn’t the woman who raised you. You may not know her as well as you think you do.”

Lena pauses, gathering her thoughts. J’onn makes a valid point and one she’d considered already. She been observing Lillian, getting a feel for this woman who was her mother and yet not. If anything, Earth-Prime’s Lillian is even less susceptible to maternal sentiment and she had an even stronger attachment to the Luthor legacy—stronger even than her attachment to her darling boy Lena was willing to bet. This Lillian wanted power too, but she considered aliens just another pawn on the chessboard. She wasn’t ideologically invested in ridding the planet of them and had already expressed disdain for Lex’s single-minded obsession with the Kryptonians.

Nia’s been listening and thinking about her own experiences. Unlike the paragons and Lena, her memories had been restored, just like Alex. But unlike Alex, Nia doesn’t consider her Earth-38 self to be her “real” self. She viewed those memories as a trusted friend, but in the short time since they’d been restored, she’d known instances of dissonance between what she’s sure her ‘other’ self would’ve felt or thought and what she believed in this world.

“I think,” Nia interposes before Lena can address J’onn’s concerns, “it’s hard to predict the effect of restored memories on any specific person’s behavior going forward. The paragons and Lena don’t have competing recollections. But, for me, my memories of a life on Earth-Prime seem as real as any of my restored memories. In a cosmos where we know the multiverse existed, how can we assume with any certainty which earth any given person came from? Isn’t it much more likely we’re an amalgamation of all our other selves, which leads to the inexorable conclusion we’re in fact, different people?”

“The variables are infinite,” Brainy adds. “It’s impossible to calculate the probabilities of how Lillian Luthor will react to the knowledge Lex tried to kill her in another life. But” Brainy points out, “the likelihood it will make things harder for us are more easily quantified.”

Everyone looks at him expectantly when he adds nothing further. “Oh, there’s only a 2.7% chance restoring Lillian’s memories will make things worse.”

“I think it’s worth the risk,” Lena argues confidently. “If we can throw Lex off his game it’ll buy us some time to search for the bottle while we figure out how to turn the Jarhanpurians against him and hopefully rid ourselves of both our problems permanently.”

“I agree,” Kara finally says meeting everyone’s eyes in turn except for Alex. “We should also keep in mind that we have the other heroes here now. If there’s anything they can do to help, we should reach out.”

No one disagrees although Kara already knows Alex will corner her at the first available opportunity.

“J’onn, I’ll go with you in the morning to see Lillian,” Lena says. “In the interim, I’m going to analyze the data from the ship. Now that we’ve lost the access point to the Jarhanpurian ship, I’ll see if there’s another way to track or contact the Elder. In any case, I’m sure I can convince Andrea to set up a meeting with Gemma Cooper. But we need to have a plan in place before I reach out to her.”

“We should all stay here tonight,” J’onn adds. “We shouldn’t make it easy for Lex to find us and there’s plenty of room.”

As the group disperses to settle in and Lena sits at the main terminal, Alex yanks Kara into the empty medical suite. “We need to talk,” she bites out as Kara lets herself be moved with a roll of her eyes.

Once they’re alone Alex turns to study her sister and takes a calming breath. “Look, I know things with Lena are complicated and that you want to fix your friendship, but that doesn’t mean you should trust her blindly.”

“That’s just it, Alex. Things with Lena are only complicated because I made them that way. I’m the one that let keeping my secret turn into lying to her when I knew, in my bones, that I could trust her. But everything that happened tonight—that wasn’t about trusting Lena. It was about trusting myself.”

“Kar, we all agreed to keep Supergirl’s identity from Lena and we all made mistakes when it came to her. It’s not all on you,” Alex says softly.

“No. I went along with it for a long time because I didn’t want to cause a rift between you and I or with James and Kal and I was also afraid if I did it without the DEO’s agreement, J’onn might decide to erase her memory or take her into custody. But it always felt wrong. It was only after I realized I’d waited too long already that I decided not to tell her because I was terrified of losing her.”

“Kara, I know you care about her, but the way she reacted when she found out—I think it proves the rest of us were right to be wary of her. I like Lena, I do,” Alex emphasizes when Kara looks at her skeptically, “but look at everything she’s done on this earth,” Alex argues.

“Sometimes Alex, villains are made—and that’s on us. We hurt her and she lashed out. I don’t condone the things she did, but after having dealt with Lex during the crisis, I understand more than ever why she felt manipulated by us, especially by me, and why that’s such a trigger for her. I get why she’d rather deal with people she expected to betray her than risk trusting me again. I also understand the pull of family—even when they’ve done horrible things. You should too,” she adds. She’s not trying to hurt Alex, but it’s always struck her as hypocritical how both Alex and Kal could be about judging Lena on her family’s misdeeds but rationalizing away their own families’ crimes. 

“I don’t know whether Lena and I will be able to repair our relationship, but I intend to be fully transparent with her about everything going forward and if I disagree with her, it’ll be based on my own judgment—not anyone else’s. She knows the Luthors best and she’s brilliant. She’s our best hope of outmaneuvering Lex and our biggest asset in figuring out how to defeat Leviathan. She’s a good person whose made mistakes just like the rest of us and I still trust her,” Kara concludes with a sigh.

Alex exhales and finally nods once but doesn’t argue further. As they exit the medical suite, they find Lena standing outside the door, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed in front of her, a contemplative look on her face. It’s obvious she heard their conversation. 

Kara joins her in leaning against the wall, their shoulders brushing, while Alex murmurs an awkward goodnight as she goes to find somewhere to crash.

Kara waits for Lena to speak first as she watches Alex walk away. “Did you know I was out here listening?” Lena finally asks curiously.

“No,” Kara says simply.

Lena just nods, seemingly believing her. “I programmed a different search algorithm including the radiation readings from the ship and set it to run. I’ll receive an alert if it turns up anything. I imagine at some point the only two Jarhanpurians not trapped in the bottle will try to communicate or even meet. We’ll need to be ready to fly out at a moment’s notice.”

“Luckily, that’s my specialty,” Kara jokes lightly and is gratified to see a small smile grace Lena’s somber face. “Any ideas on what to say to them once we find them?” Kara asks.

“A vague one, but I haven’t really fleshed it out yet,” Lena admits. “I mean basically Lex rode on the coattails of my tech to help them and I’m sure he gained access to the Fortress after I used his watch to track you. Sorry,” she adds when Kara grimaces. “I was so angry when he told me you were using myriad; I didn’t stop to think.”

“We really have to stop letting the men in our lives come between us,” Kara groans.

“I’m the idiot savant who keeps letting Lex manipulate me even when I know there’s ALWAYS an ulterior motive with him,” she laments.

“That must be how the Sun-Eater was released,” Kara realizes. “But that’s the past,” she reassures when a pained look crosses Lena’s face. “We’ll do better from now on,” she says positively. “We’ll talk to each other first if we have doubts and we’ll listen instead of jumping to conclusions and trust we both have good intentions,” she concludes with a grin.

Lena can’t help but return the smile even if its hard to share Kara’s optimism. “Anyway, maybe I can convince the Jarhanpurians they’d be better off working with me. They either already know what happened on the ship or I’ll show them. I’m sure Brainy has a digital record. Once they realize the extent of Lex’s betrayal, it shouldn’t be too difficult to convince them he’s a bigger threat to their continued existence than humanity.”

“That’s a dangerous game to play with gods,” Kara says after a minute of thought. “They’ll be looking for you to betray them too,” Kara points out. “If they know anything about you, they won’t believe you’d help them kill off most of humanity.”

“No, but I think they’d believe I’m willing and capable of doing anything to stop my brother. Also, Leviathan has a history of using extinction level events to protect the earth. But what if I can convince them than we can protect the earth without killing everyone off? 

On this earth the tech developed by me for Luthor Corp has been at the forefront of clean energy, sustainable food initiatives, and conservation. It’s not a stretch to say that if I’m at the head of Luthor Corp, we can eradicate, if not reverse, climate change. Gods always need minions and despite Leviathan’s best efforts for millennia, humans are still here. It can’t be too hard to convince them working with me will do more to protect earth than the strategies they’ve been using, which demonstrably have failed to achieve their ends anyway.”

“I’m sold, but you will rebrand right?” Kara asks with a wide grin and for the first time since she woke up on Earth-Prime, Lena Luthor laughs.


End file.
